04

                                    

                                          


                          
Beatrice found Cedric at the great hall and launched into his arms. She congratulated him since he had won the quidditch match versus the Gryffindor team once again. 
                          
He apologized profusely for not having a fair match as he saw Harry fall off his broom, but Tris dismissed him with a kiss in his cheek. His eyes widened and suddenly he blushed furiously as his friends laughed and clapped his back congratulating him. 
                          
Close friends of his hollered for him once Tris left the hall in happiness for the man finally having the guts to make the move on Beatrice Black. Little did they know that the bold Gryffindor had made the first move. 
                          
Beatrice walked through the castle, right in the brink of curfew the next day, she ventured towards the Whomping Willow, where Moony had his transformations yesterday. He was "ill" in the hospital wing today. 
                          
She mustered the courage to yell "Inmobulus!", and climbed towards the passageway through the shrieking shack.
                          
 Beatrice could see a gentle fire in the middle of the room still fresh. 
                          
Someone had been in here, and it was not Remus. 
                          
Remus only came here for his transformations and would not leave a fire fresh while he had to tend to his wounds with Madame Pomfrey. She frantically spun around and behind the door that she once swung open stood in all his glory the notorious murderer; Sirius Black. 
                          
His face looked ickly thin, his robes dirtied and sporting cuts and holes. His eyes held an emotion that was foreign to her still. His body was mangled and sported bruises and tattoos. She drew her wand and pointed it towards him. 
                          
He made his way closer to her and examined Tris's face gently. Sirius traced her high cheekbones and the look that practically screamed aristocracy, courtesy of the Black family genes.
                          
 He stopped at her eyes. Suddenly, his breath stopped in her eyes. She had the same unique icy blue eyes as his younger brother had. Then, he did something Tris would have never imagined would happen in that same moment- he cried. 
                          
His hands found his way to the side of her head, examining my facial features, then he brought her towards his mangled and bony chest where she felt his tears soak my shoulder. She was utterly paralyzed in her spot.
                          
She would have imagined that Black would want to kill her or anything among those lines, but she had never imagined him to be holding her with a fatherly hold, with the same energy and way that Remus would hold her. 
                          
At that moment she knew, her judgment was askew, she had prejudiced Sirius Black based on stories and newspaper, when he himself was standing there with nothing but the truth. Something gave her the impression that he wasn't guilty, and he should have a say in my judgment. 
                          
As he sniffled and choked on his tears he managed to say "Oh Godric, Beatrice, I tried, please you need to believe me. I loved my brother and your mother. I tried to save Regulus from Voldemort. He knew he was wrong, and when he realized it, he was sent to his early grave instead, I couldn't do anything, I still believed he was a death eater. I was too late. I could have saved him. And Aurora, she was like a sister to me. If I would not have searched out for Peter in revenge I could have been there to save her. She knew she was going to die, that's why that night, you were with Remus. Bea- Tris, and to say that all along I thought ill about him. I'm sorry, so sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you all this time. Please forgive me". 
                          
At this point, several tears made their way down Tris's cheeks. He held her as she cried, and she did too. She wasn't sure how much time they were entrapped in the fatherly embrace, but she needed this closure, and he also needed in order to forgive himself. He hiccuped and sniffled and Beatrice squeezed his grip on him in reassurance- reassurance that indeed the girl knew that Sirius had been innocent all along.